First off there is the issue of health. After all, how is the US full of so many obese people? Well, for starters, many are lazy and don't exercise. Also, they eat lots of fast food! Many people get it because it is cheap, as noted here. http://www.worldwatch.org... "People buy fast food because it's cheap, quick, and heavily promoted." There are heavy health side affects, as also noted there "round the world, traditional diets and recipes are yielding to sodas, burgers, and other highly processed and standardized items that are high in fat, sugar, and salt—fuelling a global epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses." We really do not need more people like this. Already, "In the United States, an estimated 65 percent of adults are overweight or obese, leading to an annual loss of 300,000 lives and to at least $117 billion in health care costs in 1999." Isn't that severe. And we do not need to continue it with fast food.

"At many fast-food restaurants, a single meal gives a disproportionate share—sometimes more than 100 percent—of the recommended daily intake of fat, cholesterol, salt, and sugar." That's just another example showing how unhealthy it is. "A single meal of a Double Whopper with cheese, a medium order of fries, and an apple pie from Burger King contains more saturated fat than the American Heart Association recommends we consume in two days." Come on, 2 days worth????? "One sack of hash bites or potato snackers from White Castle , for example, contains 10 grams of very unhealthy trans fat. The American Heart Association recommends we consume less than 2 grams of trans fat per day. So in one side order, you've just eaten more than five days' worth of heart-busting trans fat!" - as noted here http://www.helpguide.org... . Now that is just making me sick. Really, 5 days worth of fat?????. That just contributes to that major loss of lives, at 300,000 a year as noted above. "The bad side of fast food is that it has almost "zero" nutritious value.", as noted http://www.buzzle.com... , indicates even MORE of this. Fast food has lots of fat, but very little to no nutritional value. Servings are disproportionally big.

If you've ever seen the movie "Supersize Me", then you've just seen a tiny bit of the evidence out there, showing the harm caused by fast food. When Spurlock ate nothing but fast food for a month, his health rapidly decreased. He actually barfed from it a few times. His doctor warned him of potential kidney failure.

Also, we are often supporting huge corporations, such as McDonalds, who hardly care about their people. Now I am not saying that this is always the case, there are in fact small, perhaps family owned, restaurants out there serving fast food. However, the majority of the time it is a huge corporation that is reaping in the profits. Many times the animals used in fast food are not even raised under ethical conditions. "Meanwhile, fast food producers require farmers to raise uniform fields of crops and herds of livestock for easy processing, eliminating agricultural diversity.", as noted from the above source. Animals are often raised in cramped, dirty, unhealthy conditions. It is all about doing things quickly and in mass quantity. They don't bother to keep things right. The corporations just don't care.

Now, things are being done in the right direction. "In 2004, a law phased out the sale of all junk food (including soda) in the state's public elementary schools.". However, it is just not being done fast enough. Much damage has already been done, and I don't think it will stop anytime soon.

Point 1: This is a problem of responsibility. If people go out and eat three cheese burgers you cannot blame the people supplying the burgers for their heart attack. If people choose to eat it in huge amounts, it's their problem. To make an analogy, you cant blame the gun if someone just shot himself with it.

Point 2: Again, if the person is too stupid to realize that a "Double whopper with cheese, an order of fries, and an apple pie" is unhealthy it's their fault, not the food's fault. The gun analogy applies here too.

Point 3: If you ate ANYTHING for a month your health would rapidly decrease. Even if I ate nothing but vegetables for a whole month I would be losing out on many important nutrients and I would vomit also. This is a misleading experiment because nobody would be stupid enough to eat Mc. Donald's for every meal, for thirty days. Even if they did, it's their problem. (Gun analogy again.)

Point 4: This is a good point. But the motion of the debate is Fast FOOD, not fast food corporations. Not only fast food companies treat animals unethically. Almost every animal related product you find in a supermarket has come from a slaughterhouse. The point is, slaughterhouses don't supply to only fast food companies. Probably every steak, pork chop, or even those cheeseburgers they serve at school have come from a slaughterhouse, but people seem to ridicule the fast food companies more than they do the other companies. Because of this attention, many fast food companies are now cleaning up their act and producing more organic and natural food. The companies which don't get the attention (such as the supermarket brands) are keeping their unethical ways.

Point 5: Fast food is not served at schools. Junk food =/= fast food.

===Contentions===

1. It is the consumer's fault for being obese. (Tying back to refutation).
2. Fast Food is a convenient and cheap way to eat, especially for poor communities.
3. Fast Food Helps eradicate hunger.

CONTENTION 1:
1. If you have a truckload of ice cream in front of you, you eat all of it, get sick and vomit, do you blame the ice cream company? NO! You, being an irresponsible American have eaten all the ice cream and suffered the consequences. The same goes with fast food. If you want to eat a double cheese burger some time, sure go ahead. If you want to eat 5 double cheeseburgers and an apple pie, sure go ahead. You are responsible for your own actions. (Gun analogy).

2. Fast food, by itself isn't very unhealthy. It's when you eat it in large ammounts.
As stated before, if you eat one huge double whopper cheese burger, nothing is going to happen to you. If you eat one huge double whopper cheese burger with a large soda, fries, an apple pie, and onion rings, something WILL happen to you. Irresponsibility is the key here.

Contention 2:
1. Fast food is a great way for poor communities to be fed.
If you live in a poor community, you usually will have to work a lot for a little, and survive. I don't know about you Brian, but most people can't afford eating "healthy" five star meals every day, fast food is a great way to get cheap, calorie packed food to the working class. If you're just struggling to pay the rent, you cant especially buy the "healthy stuff" all the time. You will have to say "screw it, I'm getting a dollar burger tonight".

Contention 3:
1. There are fast food restaurant in over 100 companies to date, just think about all this cheap food that is being made available to countries that sometimes struggle to survive. [1] Fast food is not nessecarily a hamburger with fries. It is sometimes very high quality food that is made very fast [2abc] and cheaply for the people who can't afford healthy foods. Just think right now, if we removed all the fast food stations in the world, how many people would starve. Think about the massive amount of food that is put out by these stations. Fast food restaurant are contributing (whether they know it or not) to ending world hunger.

== CONCLUSION ==
My opponent's points have been refuted.
I have proven Fast Food to be a cheap way to feed lower class families.
I have proven that Fast Food is helping defeat hunger and poverty.
I have proven that it is the person who is overloading on fast food is the one responsible.

Point 1: This is a problem of responsibility. If people go out and eat three cheese burgers you cannot blame the people supplying the burgers for their heart attack. If people choose to eat it in huge amounts, it's their problem. To make an analogy, you cant blame the gun if someone just shot himself with it.

However, fast food in general, in what they sell as "one serving", has more fat and a higher portion than non-fast food. Yes, you can't blame a gun if you die from shooting yourself with it. However, only a complete idiot would do that - guns are MEANT to kill. Fast food is NOT meant to kill, if you eat some fast food, are you TRYING to be suicidal? I don't think so. If you shoot yourself with a gun are you trying to be suicidal? Yes.

Point 2: Again, if the person is too stupid to realize that a "Double whopper with cheese, an order of fries, and an apple pie" is unhealthy it's their fault, not the food's fault. The gun analogy applies here too.

At the same time, the fast food companies are the ones who are selling such unhealthy things, and encouraging people to eat it. If such was no longer sold, people would be much more likely to eat HEALTHY foods, which would reduce all the health problems and obesity among Americans.

Point 3: If you ate ANYTHING for a month your health would rapidly decrease. Even if I ate nothing but vegetables for a whole month I would be losing out on many important nutrients and I would vomit also. This is a misleading experiment because nobody would be stupid enough to eat Mc. Donald's for every meal, for thirty days. Even if they did, it's their problem. (Gun analogy again.)
OK, I see what you mean - fast food addicts don't eat JUST fast food. However, compared to many other foods that are meant to be eaten as a meal, fast food is awfully unhealthy. There is LOTS of fat in it. That's why these Americans who eat fast food often end up with problems like obesity and heart attacks.

Point 4: This is a good point. But the motion of the debate is Fast FOOD, not fast food corporations. Not only fast food companies treat animals unethically. Almost every animal related product you find in a supermarket has come from a slaughterhouse. The point is, slaughterhouses don't supply to only fast food companies. Probably every steak, pork chop, or even those cheeseburgers they serve at school have come from a slaughterhouse, but people seem to ridicule the fast food companies more than they do the other companies. Because of this attention, many fast food companies are now cleaning up their act and producing more organic and natural food. The companies which don't get the attention (such as the supermarket brands) are keeping their unethical ways.

True, but still fast food is one of the worse. If there was no fast food, the amount of cruely treated animals would VERY likely decrease. So, let's try to decrease it.

Point 5: Fast food is not served at schools. Junk food =/= fast food.

Not quite. For example, is candy considered junk food? Yes. Is it considered fast food? NO. So therefore, such is not quite true. On the other hand, fast food is pretty much junk, even more when you consider the negitive effects on someone's health. So you are only partly right.
===Contentions===

1. It is the consumer's fault for being obese. (Tying back to refutation).
2. Fast Food is a convenient and cheap way to eat, especially for poor communities.
3. Fast Food Helps eradicate hunger.
CONTENTION 1:
1. If you have a truckload of ice cream in front of you, you eat all of it, get sick and vomit, do you blame the ice cream company? NO! You, being an irresponsible American have eaten all the ice cream and suffered the consequences. The same goes with fast food. If you want to eat a double cheese burger some time, sure go ahead. If you want to eat 5 double cheeseburgers and an apple pie, sure go ahead. You are responsible for your own actions. (Gun analogy).

Ice cream and an apple pie are MEANT to be dessert, but fast food is MEANT to be a main meal. Some people eat it very frequently. Do you have ice cream EVERY single day? I doubt it.

2. Fast food, by itself isn't very unhealthy. It's when you eat it in large ammounts.
As stated before, if you eat one huge double whopper cheese burger, nothing is going to happen to you. If you eat one huge double whopper cheese burger with a large soda, fries, an apple pie, and onion rings, something WILL happen to you. Irresponsibility is the key here.

Contention 2:
1. Fast food is a great way for poor communities to be fed.
If you live in a poor community, you usually will have to work a lot for a little, and survive. I don't know about you Brian, but most people can't afford eating "healthy" five star meals every day, fast food is a great way to get cheap, calorie packed food to the working class. If you're just struggling to pay the rent, you cant especially buy the "healthy stuff" all the time. You will have to say "screw it, I'm getting a dollar burger tonight".

True, it is cheap, but that comes at a cost. And also, in some neighborhoods stores with better food actually REFUSE to come there, because of crime. Be

Contention 3:
1. There are fast food restaurant in over 100 companies to date, just think about all this cheap food that is being made available to countries that sometimes struggle to survive. [1] Fast food is not nessecarily a hamburger with fries. It is sometimes very high quality food that is made very fast [2abc] and cheaply for the people who can't afford healthy foods. Just think right now, if we removed all the fast food stations in the world, how many people would starve. Think about the massive amount of food that is put out by these stations. Fast food restaurant are contributing (whether they know it or not) to ending world hunger.

Reasons for voting decision: Difficult position for Con to defend but he presents very convincing arguments. Pro's arguments weren't as convincing despite the fact that he had the first and the last word. Also, for some reason Pro in round 3 merely restated Con's contention without actually refuting them. Anyway, gotta go get a double cheeseburger, I'm hungry.